Immune imprinting For severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), immune responses to heterologous variants are influenced by a person’s infection history. Healthcare workers (HCWs) may be exposed to several doses and types of antigens, either by natural infection or by vaccination. Reynolds et al . studied a cohort of UK HCWs followed since March 2020. The immunological profiles of these people depended on how often the subject had encountered antigen and which variant was involved. Vaccine responses after infection were found to be less effective if the infection involved heterologous spike from a variant virus. Unfortunately, the N501Y spike mutation, found in many variants, seems to induce the regulatory T cell transcription factor FOXP3, indicating that the virus could subvert effective T cell function. Changes to antibody binding between variants also means that serology data using the Wuhan Hu-1 S1 receptor-binding domain sequence may not be a reliable measure of protection. —CA